John Barrowman had a lot of supporters among the media seated at the table during our interview in support of season three of Arrow at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con. In fact, one even went as far as to dub the table ‘Team Barrowman’ at the start of our interview. And while I’m still Team Arrow, it’s impossible not to enjoy watching Barrowman tackle the role of Malcolm Merlyn in the popular The CW series.
“Malcolm and Thea and what happens in the future is going to be one of the most dysfunctional yet amazing relationships that you’re going to come across,” replied Barrowman when I asked what we can expect from the upcoming season. “I think the fans are going to be shocked and thrilled at the same time at what’s going to happen.”
As for why he thinks Malcolm has such a connection to Thea, Barrowman offered, “Well, after Tommy died it was then alluded to…that’s when we found out that Thea was Malcolm’s daughter. Malcolm had two people at that time after Tommy died still in his life and that was Moira and Thea, because Moira – although now is gone – Malcolm loved Moira… This is me as Malcolm talking because that’s how I make it work for myself. He loved her because she would wind him up. She would say to him, ‘You mess with my children and I will kill you,’ he knowing that she always knew the secret she kept with him because then she must have really kind of liked him in a way to keep that secret from his own wife. Blah, blah, blah, you know what I mean?
So, there was that kind of thing going on. Thea is all that Malcolm has left so he is going to try to grab that. He lost Tommy because he could not control emotions, right? He lost Moira because she emotionally gave herself up. She sacrificed herself, which is an emotional thing. Malcolm can control with money, violence, and destruction; he can’t control people’s emotions. This is what he’s got to learn how to do, and this is what he’s going to try to do with Thea.”
Check out the rest of our interview with John Barrowman in which he talks about wanting to do a meaty scene with Stephen Amell and more on what’s coming up on Arrow:
